Rompimiento de suelo entre llamados para detener la construcción

Breaking ground amid calls to halt

Nancy Morrison and a funeral hearse appeared at the groundbreaking for the new LG Electronics headquarters.

Groundbreaking ceremonies typically do not include funeral hearses.

But the ceremony for LG Electronics North American headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, featured just that.

“This is the death of the Palisades,” said Don Tripp, a resident of nearby Lambertville. “Today is the funeral, as I see it.”

The black hearse could be seen driving in and out of the parking lot near the site of the ceremony, bearing the banner reading: Protect the Palisades.

Thursday marked the start of construction on LG Electronics’ new $300 million North American headquarters project in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Supporters, including elected officials from New Jersey as well as neighbors, local businesses, union leaders and LG employees, gathered at 111 Sylvan Ave. – the future site of LG’s new headquarters – for the official start of demolition, the first step in the construction of the headquarters.

“LG has been a proud corporate citizen of Englewood Cliffs for the past 25 years and we are thrilled to take the first step today to build our new headquarters on a wonderful 27-acre property right here in our hometown,” said Wayne Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics USA. “LG looks forward to bringing all the economic, environmental and educational benefits that this project offers to Englewood Cliffs, to Bergen County and to the State of New Jersey as quickly as possible.”

The building will be the first to break a long-standing ordinance that caps all buildings from Fort Lee, New Jersey to Stony Point, New York, at 35 feet.

Critics of the plan say that the height of the building, which reaches 143 feet, will rise above the tree line, obscuring a view that, to this day, has been an unbroken crest of trees crowning the Palisades. A ten mile stretch of land to the north of Fort Lee, New Jersey was donated by John D. Rockefeller, with a mandate to keep the height of buildings below 35 feet, and the treeline.

“We are thrilled to take the first step today to build our new headquarters on a wonderful 27-acre property right here in our hometown,” said Wayne Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics USA. Photo: LG Electronics USA

The company got a variance from Englewood Cliffs’ local board of adjustment in 2012. The variance was challenged in court by two local residents who were later joined by numerous environmental groups, but a judge ruled in favor of LG Electronics.

The decision is in the process of being appealed, and a second lawsuit was filed against the community of Englewood Cliffs for granting the zoning variance.

It is still pending.

While LG Electronics is still in court over the height of its proposed new headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the company forged ahead with the groundbreaking.

“We’re not concerned about the appeal. If we were concerned about the appeal, we wouldn’t have started the process,” said John Taylor, a spokesman for LG Electronics.

But there is plenty of concern from others.

Four former governors of New Jersey, the Environmental Protection Agency, several newspapers, including the New York Times, the Daily News and the New Jersey Star-Ledger, as well as Protect the Palisades, a coalition of over 30 members, have released statements urging LG Electronics to rethink the design of the headquarters.

While proponents of the plan point to the green design of the headquarters, as well as the jobs and tax revenue that will come, critics say the headquarters, jobs and tax revenue need not be at the loss of the historic viewshed.

Rebecca Biegacz, an Englewood resident, is not convinced the company would not have built on the site without the variance.

“LG would take the land anyway. It’s a great place for them,” she said.

Biegacz also criticized the Board of Adjustment.

“It should be gone. This is not right.”

Larry Rockefeller called the future headquarters the “Hall of Shame.”

While a number of New Jersey residents came to protest the building, the contingent was well-represented by Northern Manhattanites as well.

Nancy Morrison can see the Palisades from her eighth floor apartment on Riverside Drive. On Thursday, she held up a sign to protest the groundbreaking.

“It’s so remarkable that the Native Americans and traders saw the same view we see today and that Rockefeller had the foresight to preserve this. That LG (Electronics) would step all over this makes me sick,” she said.

Gerri Lehmann is a resident of Cresskill, which is two towns over. She is also a member of the Cresskill Women’s Club, which is affiliated with New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs.

Lehmann is quick to point out that it was the Federation that helped prevent further destruction of the Palisades by those wanting to quarry the stone for railroad ballast. The New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs is also involved in the effort to get LG Electronics to reconsider its design.

“Why can’t they just make it longer instead of so high? It’s so simple. Everyone else did it,” said Lehmann.

Another vocal opponent of the project is Larry Rockefeller, the grandson of John D. Rockefeller.

Rockefeller called the future headquarters the “Hall of Shame.”

“It’s not only the building itself but the stampede of other tall buildings that this would start up,” he said.

Rockefeller and other critics of the building said the new headquarters would set a precedent.

Over 50 people came out to protest the ground breaking. Rockefeller expects the outrage to mount once construction starts.

Protestors gathered to demonstrate opposition to the building’s size.

“When the cranes go up there’s going to be a lot of shock.”

C.C. Blackburn, a resident of Washington Heights, agreed.

She sees the Palisades from Fort Tryon Park and enjoys hiking the trails on top of the cliffs. She is afraid both experiences will be marred by the size of the building.

“I spend a lot of time walking the Palisades on this side, and looking at the Palisades from the Cloisters and I love it. It takes you back in time,” she said.

Blackburn added that she had nothing against LG Electronics.

“I’m a customer. One would hope that they respect what they have on their own website, which indicates that they believe in environment and sustainability and that they’re a green company, and if they’re a green company, well then hey, take a look at this and people are asking you to respect the treeline.”

Local elected officials also weighed in.

“With our coalition’s legal options not yet exhausted, it is shockingly callous and insensitive for LG to hold this ceremony,” said State Senator Adriano Espaillat in a statement.

It is not just locals who are concerned about the future of the Palisades. The battle for the treeline has garnered international attention.

The World Monuments Fund has listed the Cloisters in Manhattan and the Palisades in New Jersey on its annual list of endangered cultural sites, citing the construction of a new corporate headquarters in Englewood Cliffs that is to rise above the tree line as a threat to the view from the museum across the Hudson.

For 2014, the fund has highlighted 67 sites from 41 countries.

On the list together with the city of Venice, and war-ravaged Syria, are the Palisades and the Cloisters.